Monthly Highlights – May 2020

I’m sure I’m not the only person for whom time is behaving strangely during the Coronavirus-related lockdown, but May has definitely been a weird month; that being said, we’re now into June, so it’s time for my next Monthly Highlights post. As usual I’ll take a look back at the books I’ve been reading over the last few weeks, and link out to reviews where they’re available. It’s been a bumper month for reading – I’ve read no fewer than 17 books – which means there’s lots to talk about, so I’ll try to keep things succinct for each book and not waffle on for too long!

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QUICK REVIEW: Champion of Oaths – John French

John French’s Horus Heresy short story Champion of Oaths is a characterful little vignette portraying two key moments in the life of Sigismund, who would become First Captain of the Imperial Fists. In the drift camps of the Ionus Plateau, a scared boy stands against a vicious gang of youths preying upon terrified orphans, defending his fellows. In the Temple of Oaths, a warrior faces two hundred of his brothers in a trial of combat, one after the other – should he defeat every one of them, he will be proved worthy to lead his brotherhood as the First of Templars.

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The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady Hendrix

Bloody, disturbing, often hilariously well observed, Grady Hendrix’s novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is a tale of darkness stealing into a quiet and reserved community, and how that community responds to the evil in its midst. It’s the early 90s, and in a well-to-do Charleston town Patricia Campbell and her friends meet once a month for their book club, a much-needed slice of time away from husbands, children and never-ending lists of jobs needing doing. When strange goings-on bring charming newcomer James Harris into their orbit, however, the stories they read of gruesome murder and true crime begin to feel worryingly relevant.

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The Method of Madness – Peter McLean

Peter McLean’s first Black Library story to be set away from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, The Method of Madness – a fairly long short story, almost a novella really – is a Warcry story exploring the Cypher Lords and their subtle ways. In the Bloodwind Spoil of the Eightpoints, the bustling, stinking city of Carngrad is ruled over by a group of powerful warlords who maintain a brutal status quo. Considering himself a civilised man of politics, Thrallmaster Vignus Daneggia of the Cypher Lords sees in Carngrad’s hierarchy an opportunity for a scheme worthy of attracting the attention of Archaon himself.

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Highfire – Eoin Colfer

Best known for his Artemis Fowl novels for younger readers, with Highfire Eoin Colfer proves in no uncertain terms that his talents comfortably stretch to fantasy books for adults as well. Deep in the Louisiana bayou, Everett ‘Squib’ Moreau is trying hard to stay on the straight and narrow, but it’s not easy for a restless teenager, especially with the threat of the disturbing Constable Regence Hooke looming over him and his mum. When a potentially lucrative, albeit somewhat illicit, opportunity goes awry, Squib unexpectedly finds himself in the dangerous company of Vern, a foul-mouthed, bad tempered, vodka drinking dragon.

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Rogue – James Swallow

James Swallow’s excellent Marc Dane series continues to excite and entertain with its fifth instalment, Rogue, which sees the tenacious ex-MI6 operative caught up in a plot which threatens the survival of the Rubicon Group and its founder, Solomon Ekko. When a figure from his past emerges from the shadows to cause havoc, Dane and partner Lucy Keyes set out to uncover who it is and where they came from, stirring up old secrets along the way. As the mystery unravels it reveals attacks on Rubicon from within and without, uncovering yet more secrets and bearing the unmistakable hallmarks of the Combine.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Perfect Organism – CL Werner

CL Werner’s contribution to Aconyte Books’ Tales From the Crucible anthology is The Perfect Organism, which explores the warlike and scientific mindset of KeyForge’s martians. Convinced that they have created the ideal war machine, Elder Briilip unleashes the huge, artificially-engineered creature Number 647 into the desert of Nova Hellas, and pits it against the monster known as Tyrant. Briilip has a lot riding on Number 647’s success, especially with Elder Ghireen accompanying them as an official observer on behalf of the Prime Director, but watching the titanic clash from a safe distance, the martian scientist is utterly confident in their creation’s prowess.

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Cold Open Stories – 2020 Fast Fiction Collection

I was recently asked to be one of three community judges for the April 2020 Fast Fiction Collection over at Cold Open Stories, a call for fans of Warhammer fiction to submit 1,000 word stories in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. The deadline has now passed and the three judges – Colyn from Cold Open Stories, Jack from the Youtube channel Oculus Imperia and myself – have read through the submissions selected for inclusion in the collection and picked out our recommended choices. You can read the winning short story, along with all of the selected entries, over at the COS website. It’s been a really interesting experience to be part of this process, so I thought I’d write up a few thoughts on what was involved.

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May 2020 – Taking a Quick Break

In the month just gone I read twelve books and published sixteen posts here on Track of Words, on top of the usual day job and general real-world life. That feels great, but thinking back to how things felt at the time I’m amazed I managed to be so productive. I know I’m not the only one finding things tough at the moment – it’s a very strange time in so many respects – but while I consider myself pretty fortunate in a lot of ways, I’ve been feeling increasingly tired and worn out. With that in mind, I’m going to take a quick break from thinking about Track of Words – but first I thought I’d give a little update about why, and what I’m going to be doing.

TL;DR – I’m tired and I need a bit of time to myself, so I’m going to take a week (probably) to just read and relax and not think about writing reviews or blog posts (but I’ll probably still be on Twitter).

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Monthly Highlights – April 2020

It’s time again for another Monthly Highlights post, my regular look back at what I’ve been reading (and listening to) over the last few weeks. I’m sticking with the format I started last month, which involves a fairly quick look at each and every book I read in April – a couple of those were audiobooks, but most of them were in prose format. Once again I’ve excluded short stories, but with no fewer than twelve books to talk about there’s plenty to cover without extending to other formats (and it’s long enough as it is)! I’ve listed these in the order in which I read them, with links to reviews and author interviews where appropriate.

Without further ado, let’s get straight to the first book…

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